BARNSTABLE Even in the middle of a global pandemic, climate change forced its way onto media front pages over the past year with record heat, droughts, water shortages and unprecedented flooding. It s not so much that climate change itself is proceeding faster than expected the warming is right in line with model predictions from decades ago, said climate scientist Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University in a July 26 Reuters article. Rather, it s the fact that some of the impacts are greater than scientists predicted.
With nearly 600 miles of sandy coastline, Cape Cod is particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts. Last week, the Cape Cod Commission released its climate change action report that lays out how the region can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a world undergoing massive and rapid change.
As Rebecca Miller waded into Mashpee’s Santuit Pond, mesh plankton net in hand, a vacationing couple walking a pair of dogs was retreating from the shoreline.
Like Miller, Matt Eastman and Alexis Parr are biologists, so they knew the importance of pulling the dogs back when they approached the pond’s gently lapping waters.
“Benni just tried to drink the water and I made sure to tell him not to,” Eastman said of the couple’s schnauzer mix. “I heard on the local news in Connecticut that with all the rain there are high bacteria levels.”
Eastman’s instinct was spot-on.
Freshwater Ponds Subject of Water Quality Study capeandislands.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from capeandislands.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.